In June 2012, the bakery suffered extensive damage due to a fire in one of the apartments above the 3 buildings that housed the bakery. The owner of the bakery is currently remodeling the store, with plans to expand by about 500 – 600 square feet of floor space to a total around 3800 square feet. As part of the expansion, the owner would like to apply for a Packaged Goods License.

Owner of Ann’s Bakery for 22 years – Wolodymyr Siryj

Attorney& son-in-law, presenting at the meeting: Ross Saciuk

Business hours for the bakery will remain the same as when previously opened:

Monday – Friday: 7am – 9pm
Saturdays: 7am – 8pm
Sundays: 7am – 7pm

The bakery is not interested in selling any malt liquor or fortified alcoholic beverages

The bakery does not intend to sell single bottles of beer or small bottles of hard liquor, though the license does allow this

They expect to have 1 cooler dedicated to beer and wine, with hard liquor possibly behind the counter

No open containers are allowed on the premises per the license restrictions

Not sure if their license would be transferable (need to follow-up on that)

They intend to keep the bakery the same as a family bakery , part of the neighborhood, alcohol sales will not be a primary focus of the bakery, but an additional offering to customers, along with a hot tables, a deli area, the bakery counters, and some cafe tables.

As part of the process of applying for this license, each legal registered voter within 250 feet of a proposed liquor license establishment is notified when an application is filed, and the bakery will be sending out letters to these neighbors, as well as posting a notice on their premises.

The bakery owners stated that they will happy to answer any further questions we may have about their application, and will follow all the steps required by the City of Chicago, and will keep the UVNA apprised of their plans as well. We will create a page on the UVNA website for tracking any information about this license application process.

(we will post any updates regarding this application request to one page on the UVNA website for reference)

The St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church and School Buildings were built in 1906 by a congregation of German immigrants, and possess a strong historic and architectural connection to the early development of Ukrainian Village. It was excluded from the original Ukrainian Village Landmark District in 2002, as well as the extensions in 2004 and 2006, but was recommended for a third extension this past June by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks. The church went up for sale by auction this summer, and a development group, the Hoyne Development Partners won the auction. They have not yet closed on the property.

Tim Desmond was in attendance at the meeting representing Hoyne Development Partners. Desmond is also President of Central Station Development Corporation , and has worked on many previous adaptive re-use projects like this one. Kenneth De Muth, from the architectural firm pappageorgehaymes partners was also in attendance to discuss the very preliminary plans and ideas for the project.

They have not yet closed on the property – will need the zoning change to do so

If landmark status is granted, the buildings cannot be torn down, and the developers state they are not interested in tearing down the property.

Are requesting a zoning change from RT4 to RM5 to allow for 2 floors to exist in the church, and the additional interior square footage an additional floor would bring

They will leave the entire Hoyne Street (West) facade of the Church intact, i.e. the stained glass windows will remain. The arches above the windows in the school that have been filled in will be restored to clear glass.

Stained glass in the windows on the courtyard side of the building will be removed to allow more natureal light into the units in the chuch, and they will try to re-purpose/reuse the stained glass where possible.

The new boundaries that they have proposed to expand the reach of the SSA are:– Western Avenue, along the west side of street from Hadden to Cortez and along the east side of street from Hadden to Chicago – Damen Avenue, from the south side of Augusta to north side of Huron– Ashland Avenue from the south side of Division to the south side of Grand– Grand Avenue from the east side of Ashland to the east side of Damen – Milwaukee Avenue, from 1142 N Milwaukee to north side of Erie – Ogden Avenue, from 1030 N Ogden to the Kennedy Expressway – Chicago Avenue from the west side of Halsted to the east side of Western

The next regular SSA meeting is Thursday, October 4th, at noon, at the West Town Chicago Chamber of Commerce, located at 1819 W. Chicago Ave.

There is also scheduled a West Town SSA Informational Workshop Tuesday, October 9th 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
@ WTCCC 1819 W. Chicago Ave, to learn more about the Special Service Area, the SSA programs, staff, annual budget and the reconstitution and expansion process.

The City Council Finance Committee must still hold a Public Hearing before taking a vote on the new boundaries of the SSA and sending it back to City Council for passage. The date of the Public Hearing at City Hall has been set for Friday, October 12th at 10am. According to the SSA, all SSA taxpayers will be sent in the mail a written notice of the Public Hearing so they may attend. Once the SSA Ordinance is passed, DHED will enter into a contract with WTCCC, and the new West Town SSA will be implemented beginning January 2013.

CAPS Update

Regarding the recent armed robberies on Damen & Thomas and Damen & Augusta, the CPD collected a lot of evidence and believe they have some good leads regarding these crimes. Alderman Waugespack attended the block party on Thomas Street which took place a few days later, and reviewed community safety tips and procedures, and they also discussed the possibility of adding speed bumps to their street.